Big Blue goes green
By A. ASOHAN
THERE are many reasons why companies today are concerned about the environment.
Some want to stay clear of legislation that restricts activities which can adversely affect the environment. Sometimes, albeit rarely, they may be concerned for altruistic reasons.
Whatever the driving factors, responsibility towards the environment makes "good business sense in the long run," says IBM Malaysia general manager Rodzlan Arkib.
"True, it may cost you a lot up front in terms of overhead costs, but you’ll see a lot of savings later when you start recycling and cutting down on wastage," he says.
Of course, there is also the company’s role as a responsible corporate citizen.
"IBM has been concerned about the environment for some time now, and we have taken action to help in its conservation," he adds.
These actions range from global policies that affect all IBM organizations, to local action plans initiated by operations like IBM Malaysia.
Project BumiKu
For instance, IBM Malaysia has made a pledge to participate in Project BumiKu, the national programme on recycling and environmental awareness organized by the Volunteer Resources Development Organization (VRDO), a nonprofit operation.
The project, launched last October, is supported by the Housing and Local Government Ministry.
The first phase of the project is to encourage paper-recycling campaigns. Funds collected from the recycling would then be channelled into awareness-building programmes that include the production of posters, pamphlets, books and videotapes on the environment.
"We already have a paper-recycling campaign within the company, but we are looking to extend it," says Rodzlan.
According to IBMer Chin See Mei, when Project BumiKu volunteers approached the company, IBM Malaysia decided to adopt the campaign and two weeks ago launched its own internal Earth-Care programme.
"Previously, we used to only recycle our confidential documents," she says.
"Now, we’re going to encourage everyone to recycle all their waste paper," she adds. "We’re going to place recycling bins for paper, and another bin where employees can throw other rubbish."
Chin is an IBM Club committee member. The IBM Club organizes recreational and educational activities for IBM employees and their families, including the company’s family day and annual dinner and dance.
"We’re also extending this commitment to all activities we’re organizing this year," she says. "For instance, our next dinner and dance would have as its theme Back to Nature."
"We are also going to organize jungle treks and nature walks for our family days," she adds.
But programmes like these usually fizzle out when there is nobody to champion the cause, so IBM Malaysia has taken steps to ensure this does not happen.
"We’re going to develop some employees to become environmental champions," Rodzlan says. "Their responsibility would be to keep abreast of environmental issues, meet with relevant authorities, gather information and come back to communicate all this to the rest of the company."
While championing the environment would not be full-time jobs for these employees, Rodzlan has made a pledge that their activities as champions would be recognized in the company’s employee performance evaluations.
"These people would also champion the environmental cause outside the company, the same way we have people giving MDQ (Market Driven Quality) talks now," he says.
MDQ was IBM’s initiative to become a quality-driven organization. IBM Malaysia won an internal IBM award for its quality management, and has been asked to present seminars to other IBM organizations and customers detailing its programme.
Global commitment
Other IBM organizations have been just as active, if not more so, in diving into environmental issues. In 1990, the company dedicated an entire issue of its international in house magazine, Think, to the environment and programmes the company had undertaken.
The next year, the company introduced Environmental Affairs awards to recognize the efforts of its employees in environmental concerns. So far, about 38 employees have won, as well as two IBM organizations.
That same year, the company introduced a US$25 million (RM65 million) environmental research programme to spur the study of environmental problems using IT.
About 17 US universities have been awarded planning grants, and the programme has been extended to other countries.
The company has begun providing user manuals for its systems that come in diskette form, to reduce paper use.
At its plant in Endicott, New York, the regeneration of ferric chloride etchant has eliminated more than 4,700 tons of hazardous waste sludge and saved more than US$2 million (RMS.2 million) between 1986 and 1991.
Its San Jose plant cut down its chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) emissions by 96 per cent, earning the company the 1992 Environmental Protection Agency Administrators Pollution Prevention Award.
IBM is also on target with its drive to eliminate all fully halogenated CFCs and carbon tetrachloride by the end of this year. Since 1987, CFC emissions have been cut down by 87 per cent, and fully half of the company’s manufacturing facilities are CFC-free.
Thanks to its efforts, IBM was one of nine US companies to receive the President’s Environment and Conservation Challenge Award in 1991.
Source : The Star, June 8, 1993
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